- For the problem of evil and how to reconcile it with an all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful God, the Christian defense is called Theodicy. Here is a good article that gives you an overview of what Christianity has attempted for 2000 years: Theodicy: A Brief Overview. As you can see, there is no single right answer. This site seems to prefer questions that CAN have a single right answer, which does NOT have to be the truth. "Right answer" here means what a theological tradition is able to give, based on a particular interpretation of the Bible and additional source of authority (such as the Catholic Magisterium). But there are many questions that no theological tradition can answer, since there is not enough data coming from revelation. These questions will usually be closed, and are usually referred to another stack exchange: Philosophy.SE.
For the problem of evil and how to reconcile it with an all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful God, the Christian defense is called Theodicy. Here is a good article that gives you an overview of what Christianity has attempted for 2000 years: Theodicy: A Brief Overview. As you can see, there is no single right answer. This site seems to prefer questions that CAN have a single right answer, which does NOT have to be the truth.
- "Right answer" here means what a theological tradition is able to give, based on a particular interpretation of the Bible and additional source of authority (such as the Catholic Magisterium).
- But there are many questions that no theological tradition can answer, since there is not enough data coming from revelation. These questions will usually be closed, and are usually referred to another stack exchange: Philosophy.SE.
- You can try by narrowing the scope of the question to a theological tradition (Catholicism, Lutheran, etc.) or to a theologian (Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis) or to a particular type of theology (Open Theism, Augustinian, Thomistic) or ask for citations by the early church fathers. The goal is to make the question so it is not opinion based, but has a single right answer.
You can try by narrowing the scope of the question to
- a theological tradition (Catholicism, Lutheran, etc.)
- a theologian (Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis)
- a particular type of theology (Open Theism, Augustinian, Thomistic)
- ask for citations by the early church fathers
The goal is to make the question so it is not opinion based, but can have a single right answer.
- Question about dogma is certainly acceptable. Just be sure to provide enough citation that can point out:
Question about dogma is certainly acceptable. Just be sure to provide enough citation that can point out:
- The source of the dogma, i.e. whether it is the Catholic church, the Lutheran tradition, Martin Luther, etc.
- A summary of the dogma in question
- The clarification you desire
- Once there is an answer, yes, feel free to comment below the answer to point out flaws, whether
Once there is an answer, yes, feel free to comment below the answer to point out flaws, whether
- the answer has a logical fallacy
- the answer didn't address the question adequately
- the answer can be improved with more details
- the answer needs to be backed up by a citation
- etc.
- For the problem of evil and how to reconcile it with an all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful God, the Christian defense is called Theodicy. Here is a good article that gives you an overview of what Christianity has attempted for 2000 years: Theodicy: A Brief Overview. As you can see, there is no single right answer. This site seems to prefer questions that CAN have a single right answer, which does NOT have to be the truth. "Right answer" here means what a theological tradition is able to give, based on a particular interpretation of the Bible and additional source of authority (such as the Catholic Magisterium). But there are many questions that no theological tradition can answer, since there is not enough data coming from revelation. These questions will usually be closed, and are usually referred to another stack exchange: Philosophy.SE.
- You can try by narrowing the scope of the question to a theological tradition (Catholicism, Lutheran, etc.) or to a theologian (Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis) or to a particular type of theology (Open Theism, Augustinian, Thomistic) or ask for citations by the early church fathers. The goal is to make the question so it is not opinion based, but has a single right answer.
- Question about dogma is certainly acceptable. Just be sure to provide enough citation that can point out:
- The source of the dogma, i.e. whether it is the Catholic church, the Lutheran tradition, Martin Luther, etc.
- A summary of the dogma in question
- The clarification you desire
- Once there is an answer, yes, feel free to comment below the answer to point out flaws, whether
- the answer has a logical fallacy
- the answer didn't address the question adequately
- the answer can be improved with more details
- the answer needs to be backed up by a citation
- etc.
For the problem of evil and how to reconcile it with an all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful God, the Christian defense is called Theodicy. Here is a good article that gives you an overview of what Christianity has attempted for 2000 years: Theodicy: A Brief Overview. As you can see, there is no single right answer. This site seems to prefer questions that CAN have a single right answer, which does NOT have to be the truth.
- "Right answer" here means what a theological tradition is able to give, based on a particular interpretation of the Bible and additional source of authority (such as the Catholic Magisterium).
- But there are many questions that no theological tradition can answer, since there is not enough data coming from revelation. These questions will usually be closed, and are usually referred to another stack exchange: Philosophy.SE.
You can try by narrowing the scope of the question to
- a theological tradition (Catholicism, Lutheran, etc.)
- a theologian (Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis)
- a particular type of theology (Open Theism, Augustinian, Thomistic)
- ask for citations by the early church fathers
The goal is to make the question so it is not opinion based, but can have a single right answer.
Question about dogma is certainly acceptable. Just be sure to provide enough citation that can point out:
- The source of the dogma, i.e. whether it is the Catholic church, the Lutheran tradition, Martin Luther, etc.
- A summary of the dogma in question
- The clarification you desire
Once there is an answer, yes, feel free to comment below the answer to point out flaws, whether
- the answer has a logical fallacy
- the answer didn't address the question adequately
- the answer can be improved with more details
- the answer needs to be backed up by a citation
- etc.
First, thank you for your considerateness. I'm relatively new here myself, only started to be active in the past 2-3 years. I'm also not a native English speaker and still need improvement. Like you, I also ask philosophical questions to Christianity in general.
You plan to ask questions which
... simply to understand the answers of Christians to some apparent logical problems in the dogma. ... Questions could revolve around specific takes on topics such as the problem of evil, the coherence of ethical questions in the Bible, etc…
Clarification from your comments:
- By "problem of evil", I wanted to refer to the theological (?) question which can be very roughly stated as: how can a benevolent god and evil coexist? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil . Is it considered off topic? I understand that the problem itself is too broad and already well discussed, but would a specific question regarding a doubt on one of the "classical" answers be ok?
- b) I understand that the comments are here to address the quality of the answer. But if the answer contains logical arguments, can't it be considered discussing its quality to point out potential flaws in the reasonning or omitted arguments? (which is what I meant by counter arguments)
Here are some tips to make your questions more acceptable to the purpose of C.SE:
- For the problem of evil and how to reconcile it with an all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful God, the Christian defense is called Theodicy. Here is a good article that gives you an overview of what Christianity has attempted for 2000 years: Theodicy: A Brief Overview. As you can see, there is no single right answer. This site seems to prefer questions that CAN have a single right answer, which does NOT have to be the truth. "Right answer" here means what a theological tradition is able to give, based on a particular interpretation of the Bible and additional source of authority (such as the Catholic Magisterium). But there are many questions that no theological tradition can answer, since there is not enough data coming from revelation. These questions will usually be closed, and are usually referred to another stack exchange: Philosophy.SE.
- You can try by narrowing the scope of the question to a theological tradition (Catholicism, Lutheran, etc.) or to a theologian (Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis) or to a particular type of theology (Open Theism, Augustinian, Thomistic) or ask for citations by the early church fathers. The goal is to make the question so it is not opinion based, but has a single right answer.
- Question about dogma is certainly acceptable. Just be sure to provide enough citation that can point out:
- The source of the dogma, i.e. whether it is the Catholic church, the Lutheran tradition, Martin Luther, etc.
- A summary of the dogma in question
- The clarification you desire
- Once there is an answer, yes, feel free to comment below the answer to point out flaws, whether
- the answer has a logical fallacy
- the answer didn't address the question adequately
- the answer can be improved with more details
- the answer needs to be backed up by a citation
- etc.
I look forward to your questions. Welcome to C.SE.